So ... knowing that some chocolate is made with slave labor, I don't see how someone could knowingly buy such chocolate again. Luckily, not all chocolate is tainted - by slavery or even milder forms of labor abuse.

If you want some chocolate, but don't want to exploit people, Fair Trade chocolate is probably your best bet. "Fair trade" was a term coined fairly recently, apparently in contradiction to so-called free trade.

In the Fair Trade system, purchasers of products like coffee and cocoa beans, bananas, and sugar typically agree to pay an above market price for the products. The extra money is intended to help the small farms and co-operatives selling the products to make lasting improvements in their communities, by going towards schools, hospitals, and other improvements in infrastructure. The purchasers of the products, meanwhile, who are typically companies intending to import and sell the products yet again in another country, can then label the products as "Fair Trade certified", which lets the end consumer know that he or she isn't colluding in exploitation against some poor third world farmer. And thus, in theory, everyone is happy.

It sounds good to me, and, as I write, I've yet to hear any claims that the Fair Trade system is somehow corrupt, or phony, or any other adjective that might mitigate its goodness. Of course, the higher price paid to the Fair Trade farmer is usually passed on to the end consumer, but it seems a small price to pay, indeed, to know that you aren't colluding in the exploitation of poverty.

The markets for Fair Trade products, including chocolate, are small but growing rapidly, and I think we should all do what we can to support them.

Now, as far as chocolate goes specifically, there is, apparently, another option that is slavery-free. According to Caroline Tiger, writing for the online magazine Salon, "organic chocolate, sold by such U.S. companies as Newman's Own and Dagoba, is also 'slave free,' since organic farms are subject to their own independent monitoring system that checks labor practices." It has also been noted that, as of now, they don't grow cocoa beans organically in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), which is where the vast majority of the reports about chocolate slavery have come from. Finally, according to Camille Littlejohn of Newman's Own Organics, the limited supply of certified organic cocoa ensures that organic cocoa farmers receive a premium price. So, apparently, organic is also okay.

For your convenience, we've created a list of companies that sell Fair Trade chocolate, organic chocolate, or chocolate otherwise believed to be slavery-free. The list is by no means comprehensive; there may be other ethically made chocolates out there that we don't know about - there are thousands of chocolate companies, after all - but we'll try to add other companies as we hear about them. You may also notice that we've included some companies - Ben & Jerry's, for example - that use ethically produced chocolate in some products but not in others. Naturally, we're not happy that they make money from slavery with some of their products, but as a practical matter, it seems sensible to encourage their more ethical products by purchasing them. Maybe someday - especially if they're also bombarded with enough angry letters - they'll go good altogether.

Finally, you may have noticed a lot of qualifiers in the above statements, qualifiers like "apparently", "probably", and "in theory". Why? Well, frankly, I'm cynical. It would be hard not to be, knowing what I do about corporations, governments, and people in general. And so, the guide that follows should not be taken as a foolproof guarantee that the companies listed aren't engaged in something shady (in fact, we know that some of them are; see above), or won't be in the future. But, in conjunction with your own good judgement and vigilance, it should serve as handy guide to buying slavery-free chocolate.

When we created this site in 2005, we
decided that the list that follows should be fairly inclusive so as to give
consumers the widest range of slavery-free chocolate options possible.
Accordingly, we included companies that, based on their public statements,
apparently follow fair trade principles even though they are not Fair Trade certified
per se (Ah!laska, Amano, and Sunspire,
for example); companies that sell some Fair Trade certified chocolate products
but also sell chocolate that may be tainted with slavery (Ben and Jerry's, for
example); companies that sell chocolates that are certified as organic but not
Fair Trade (Newman's Own, for example); and even some companies whose chocolate
is neither organic or Fair Trade certified but is presumably slavery-free
simply because the cocoa originates in parts of the world where chocolate
slavery has never been reported (Mayordomo, for
example). And, like, we don't regret that inclusivity because, again, we think
it's important to give people a lot of slavery-free options and also to educate
people, in a way, by pointing out the sort of fine distinctions mentioned in
the preceding sentence.

That said, it's also fair to say that those distinctions can
be sort of confusing at times (again, see the aforementioned sentence up there
-- kinda confuses me even, and I just wrote it! :^).
So, before you get bogged down in the complexities of the list below -- and
particularly if you're not really interested in all that -- I'd like to strongly
recommend that you check out this
link, which will take you to the list of companies that have been
officially Fair Trade certified by the folks at TransFair
USA, the non-profit organization responsible for Fair Trade certification for
products sold in the US.

Not only is Fair Trade almost certainly your best option
when it comes to buying chocolate that is slavery-free, it also provides the
best guarantee that a significant portion of the money you spend will go
towards improving the communities where the cocoa was produced. With some of
the non-Fair Trade companies, after
all, you will presumably get chocolate that is slavery-free, but there is less
certainty that the cocoa producers themselves will be getting a "premium"
(i.e., fair) price for their cocoa. Of course, this is not to say that some of
the non-Fair Trade companies listed below aren't great (for example, the late
Paul Newman directed that fully 100% of the profits from Newman's Own products
be donated to charity, which might've been the coolest thing that even Cool Hand
Luke ever did). But, if you find the questions of provenance, of organic vs.
Fair Trade, of self-proclaimed fair trade vs. Fair Trade certified, etc., confusing,
or if you just don't wanna think about any shades of
gray or caveats Well, then just hit that link up above (or this
one) for TransFair's list of Fair Trade
sellers, and you can know without a doubt (or as close to without a doubt as
there is) that you'll find chocolate that's both good for your taste buds and
your conscience.

Brand Name: This column contains the product brand. Click on the name to link to the product's home page.

Products: This column lists the types of chocolate products this brand sells.

Organic?: This column lists states whether or not [some] of this brand's chocolate products are organic. Click on the button and more information will appear in the box in the bottom frame.

Fair?: This column indicates whether or not the brand has fair trade practices. That is, do they make a real effort to ensure cocoa farmers are paid a fair price, do they make an effort to improve the lives of cocoa farmers? Click on the button and more information will appear in the box in the bottom frame. A "No" in this column only means that I did not find any mention of fair trade practives on the company's webpage.

Source: This column indicates where this product's cocoa is grown. "Unknown" means the source is unknown to me, not necessarily the company as well.

Where to Buy: This column lists locations I have found the product in my neighborhood or online.

Child Slavery in your Chocolate. Steven Millman wrote letters to over 200 chocolate companies. These letters asked whether the companies were sure their chocolate did not contain slave-produced cocoa. At this site, he posts their responses (or lack there of).

Fair Trade Federation Retail Stores "carry primarily fairly traded items, either bought directly from producer groups or from fair trade wholesalers. FTF retail shops offer an alternative to the neighborhood discount store where consumers blindly buy inexpensive foreign made products that offer no guarantees for workers' safety or well being. In contrast, when shoppers frequent FTF retail shops, they get high quality merchandise, and can feel confident that a significant percentage of their purchasing dollars are going directly to artisans."